Sotheby's Art Moderne et Contemporain Evening Auction Totals $41.15m

A work by Claude Monet was the headline sale at Sotheby's 'Art Moderne et Contemporain Evening Auction' on April 16 in Paris.

• The sale totaled $41.15m (EUR34.93m), exceeding the pre-sale high estimate.

Snapshot of the sale

• 32 works sold totaling $41.15m.
• Estimates totaled: $25.87m (low) and $37.11m (high), excluding premiums.
• The sell-through rate was 89% of the original 36 lots announced.

The star lot was: Claude Monet, Vétheuil, effet du matin (1901), which sold for $12.01m, 73% above its $6.94m low estimate. It has been traded 7 times in the past but unseen for decades when quietly held in a private collection.

The outperformer sold for 502% above its low estimate. Gerhard Richter, Untitled (9. Nov. 1995) (1995), sold for $558,000 ($92,500 low estimate). It has been traded once in the past.

• 20 works, or 62%, sold above their high estimate.
• 10 works, or 31%, sold within their low and high estimate.
• 2 works, or 6%, sold below their low estimate.
• 0 sold with undisclosed estimates.

Guaranteed sales

7 works were backed by guarantees, including: Lucio Fontana, Concetto Spaziale, Attese (1968). It sold for $2.41m, 60% above its $1.5m low estimate.. It has been traded 3 times in the past.

Works that did not sell

3 works were bought-in, including: Tamara de Lempicka, Deux Nus en perspective (1925), estimated at $1.04m (low) to $1.39m (high). It has been traded 3 times in the past.

Withdrawn before the sale

1 work was withdrawn before the sale: Ossip Zadkine, Nu debout (1930), estimated at $254,500 (low) to $323,900 (high).

Terms and definitions

All results include the fees and premiums added to the price of a work of art when the auctioneer's hammer falls. Estimates, sale prices and totals are converted into US dollars. Sale prices are compared to the auction house’s low estimate, which do not include premiums.

Guarantees: Sometimes an auction house guarantees to pay a seller for a work, regardless of whether the bidding reaches the reserve price, a figure that is typically confidential.

Bought-in: If there are no bids for a work, or if bidding falls short of the reserve price, the lot is unsold or “bought-in”.

Withdrawn: This happens when a seller decides, for whatever reason, to withdraw a work before the bidding begins.

Premiums: Typically a sliding-scale of charges paid in addition to the hammer price by the buyer, plus any other fees.